Beware of gifts from strangers Forth Story
by Barelygoodenough
Summary: My forth short story I have written for Kar'lei.


Beams of light fought their way through the lush forest of Terrokar

Beams of light fought their way through the lush forest of Terrokar. Kar'lei hummed a light lullaby as she searched trough the forest for various herbs and flowers.

_All through the night  
Midnight slumber close surround thee,  
All through the night  
Soft the drowsy hours are creeping,  
Hill and dale in slumber sleeping  
I my loved ones' watch am keeping,  
All through the night_

She had no idea why this particular rhyme was in her head, or where she heard it. She kept on humming it as she picked the herbs almost too peacefully. What also was odd about this particular day, and outing is that she was wearing no protective armor at all; instead she was in her white woolen dress that was made by Achates, so long ago. Her hair was pinned back, this time not by the silver phoenix that everyone was accustom to seeing, but a white flower that was given to her as she left Shattrah though the tunnels, by an older human woman who stopped her to beg for money. Kar'lei offered her two gold coins and this old woman gave her the flower and said "Let the light of the Knights protect you young paladin." Kar'lei had shrugged it off as a woman who had seen too much, and most likely suffered from some head trauma. Kar'lei didn't think twice on how she understood the human woman. She just continued on her way out of the city, and into the forest.

The lullaby continued to weave through her head, as she reached down to pick Dreaming Glory. As she picked the herb, her nose started itching and she let out a strong sneeze which blew the pollen of the herb all over her. She looked down at her white dress that was now covered in small yellow dots. She yawned a bit as her eyes began to feel heavy; her body began to sway from side to side. Her hand grabbed the nearest tree as she sank to her knees and then curled up besides it, falling fast asleep.

Sounds of children giggling woke Kar'lei from her slumber. She stretched her arms out wide, then rubbed her eyes, when she was able to focus she could see two children, one boy with long silver hair, and a girl with long reddish hair.

"I think she's waking up" The little boy said

"You're gonna be in trouble, once she sees what you did to her flowers" The girl replied to him.

Kar'lei smiled as she looked over at the basket and saw all flowers and herbs scattered across the ground. "Now what reason would you have to do that?" She asked him. She began to slowly stand up, brushing the petals off her dress. "If I were an ogre would you have done it then, they would most likely take you back to their home and make you into stew!"

The boy looked at her wide eyed scared beyond belief, of what she had said.

"No.. no ma'am, I am sorry… we were just playing .. and my sister… pushed me and I fell and knocked over your basket" the poor child was sniffling as he punched his sister in arm.

The girl almost threw a punch back in his direction, but hesitated as she looked over Kar'lei "You're lucky I'm a lady! You my brother will be no Lord or Duke if you continue to beat girls up"

The boy fell to the ground and erupted in laughter "Lady… haha … you will never be a Lady of the Silvermoon Royal Court … haha… you… haha… think they would let you in?"

The young girl started sobbing "Yes! Yes I do!"

Kar'lei knelt in front of the girl and wiped away her tears "Why would you just want to be a Lady of the Royal Court, when you can be a Paladin, sworn to the duty of protecting all that is righteous."

The elfish children looked at her oddly, "Paladin?" They asked in unison.

Kar'lei coughed "Um, Blood Knight" she reiterated

The children laughed and started examining her head. "Maybe she hit her head" The boy said quietly to his sister.

"You two have no clue what I am talking about, I am sure that you guys would have heard stories by now, it's been awhile since the gates to the Ghost lands have been open."

Again they examined her more, "Where is that bump? Are you sure you weren't taken away by Ogres? Lady, the only ones who train to become Paladins are our human allies." The boy said to Kar'lei.

Kar'lei stood up and for the first time noticed her surroundings, she wasn't in Terrokar anymore, she was in Eversong Forest. And off to the distance, she could see Silvermoon, not the current city as it stands, but the original Silvermoon.

"How…what?" She mumbled and fell to her knees on the ground. These children were looking at her like she was crazy, human allies? That was so long ago, She felt the flower on her head, what crazy magic did that human women have to send her to this place?

"You must have seriously hit your head hard lady. All of that mumbling, isn't good for your reputation if you want to find a good husband to marry."

"That is the least of my worries" Kar'lei mumbled quietly.

"Lei, did you hear that, mom is calling us for dinner, lets go before we get in trouble again. Bye crazy lady!" The children ran off bickering back and forth between each other.

Kar'lei looked up her eyes wide in bewilderment, "Did… he? No, it wasn't possible" She ran her hand through her hair and closed her eyes, thinking that if she fell asleep she would wake up from this strange dream.

Sounds of waves crashing against the shore woke Kar'lei up. "Is this a dream, first old Silvermoon, now a beach?" She stood up to survey her surroundings. The beach was unknown to her, a land she had not visited yet, though she though she had covered all of Azeroth and Outlands in her travels.

The cold wind blew around her, making goose bumps on her body. She folded her arms across her body and looked out to the sea. Part of her wanted to go home, but the calming nature of the ocean relaxed her, and for a brief moment she wanted to stay at this place, but she knew she couldn't. She started to walk along the beach looking for some sign of life.

Her search brought her to a road which had two paths; both did not clearly state where they went, so she stood there for a moment to decide. The both looked the same, same road, same scenery.

"Before you decide, there is something you may wish to see young paladin" A soft voice came from behind. Kar'lei turned around and came face to face with the human woman who she had encountered in Shattrah before being thrown into this dream. However, the woman was much younger now, and her beauty undeniable. The woman's black hair flowed long past her waist, her gold and black robes moved gently with the wind as she reached her hand out to Kar'lei.

"Take my hand Kar'lei Sunblade for you still need to see a few things before you decided your path, and you must know what you must give up to one or the other paths. The rest of your journey you will not interact with those you will see, for you can not change your past, but you must see it, as you may have forgotten."

"What is going on here? What are you having me see? Why did I see Kai and I when we where children? What are these paths you are talking about and why do I have to choose only one?!" She screamed out to the human women. The woman only took her hand and placed it over Kar'lei's eyes. Kar'lei almost started to protest when the woman removed her hand from Kar'lei's eyes and what she saw amazed her.

She stood outside of Northshire Abby, in late spring. A place she remembered so well, when the High Elves were part of the Alliance, before the bloodshed between them. A time before she was a Sindorei. The human women was no longer with her, again she was alone.

She started walking around the Abby, true to what the human had said, nobody paid any mind to her, a wave or a nod of her head went unacknowledged. What am I hear to see? Why am I supposed to remember this, the time of my schooling? She remembered this time, when she was learning to be a priestest. She had discovered her talent in healing when she and her brother were riding their horses. Alkaiser had fallen to the ground and his leg had broken. Even back then, he held his emotions and told her he would be fine, but she could not leave him laying there to get a priest. She placed her hands over his leg and concentrated as hard as she could to heal him. They sat there for about a half an hour while she tried. A few times he yelled at her to stop and go get help, but she continued to try. Finally her stubborn will paid off when a hint of light formed between her hands and his leg. They both were astonished that she actually pulled it off.

She laughed as she remembered her conversation with her brother that day.

"I've decided, to give up on becoming a Lady of the Royal Court" she had stated matter-of-factly to him.

"Like the daughter of a blacksmith had a chance, sorry Lei, you had as much chance of me becoming the Lord." He had laughed back at her.

"You never know, stranger things can happen."

She lightly laughed to herself and she remembered that day, and how things had turned out. She heard the laughs of young women approaching from behind her. She turned around to see herself and a few other human and High elf females walking slowly with books in hand, giggling loudly behind her. She slipped to the side and waited for them to pass then started to walk behind them. Noticing her once long wavy hair she ran her fingers through her now shorter hair. Each of the girls wore the same plain white robes trimmed in purple.

"Leeeiiii" One of the human girls teased her.

This may have been a long time ago, but Kar'lei remembered the conversation.

The younger Kar'lei giggled "Yes, Sami?"

"You know what happens tomorrow right?" The human poked the younger Kar'lei in the arm.

A smirk came across Kar'lei's face "No not at all, in fact, I plan on tomorrow being a very boring day, where I'll probably spend most of the day in my room studying"

"Lei Lei, you can't do that! The mages come back from Dalaran tomorrow! Will you not be there to greet Armas when he comes home?"

"Oh I can and will do that! That mage didn't even bother to reply back to my letters I sent him! What is so great about mages anyways? They all seem a little full on them selves."

Kar'lei watched the younger version of herself prance around as the other girls laughed at her.

"Watch me!" she yelled "I can throw fireballs from my hands, aren't I so powerful?" She flung her arm around one of the girls that she was with "Don't you want to be with me? I love me, how could you not?" The girl put her hand on her forehead and pretended to faint.

All the girls erupted in laughter, as she continued her act. The present Kar'lei laughed as well, as she watched. Remembering how light hearted she used to be. Looking at herself now, some may call her reserved, shy or quiet. Was this what the woman wanted her to see?

Silence fell upon the girls as a young High Elf male walked in front of them, his hair long and blond shined in the spring sun. The younger Kar'lei stopped and turned around and made a face at the boy.

"Perhaps I shall run away and join an acting troupe, that sounds like fun don't you agree girls?" The girls nodded at her "Well, let's continue to classes, before we are late."

"But... But... Lei, aren't you going to speak with him?" The one named Sami asked.

"Armas?" She questioned "He will have to wait, until I'm ready. And he better have an excuse on why he did not write me while he was away" she said in his direction.

"Lei, I came home early to see you, can I just have a moment of your time?" Armas pleaded with her.

"No, don't you see, we have class to go to. You will have to wait." She stated to him as she walked away, waving and smiling at him.

The present Kar'lei watched herself walk away, and Armas stand there. She remembered what happened. Armas was only back for that brief time, he was called to go home, but wanted to see her before he did. They would not meet again until on the battlefield.

Kar'lei closed her eyes and sighed. When she opened them again, she was astonished by where she had moved to.

The icy wind blew her long red hair back as she looked for bodies through the ice and snow in the mountain terrain of her friends and family. Her fingers were blue has she uncovered each body that she saw. Water that had melted against her blackened armor dripped slowly onto the ground.

"How long have I been looking?" Kar'lei asked the old woman while watching the older version of herself.

"Years. " She simply answered.

"How did it come to this? How did they all die?"

"You're priorities were not straight, you let them die. If you continue to put love in front of your training you will see first hand for yourself on how this happened."

"This can not be true, so I have to give up loving the first person I have trusted, in order to save everyone?" Kar'lei yelled at the old woman, her eyes still fixated on watching herself dig through the bodies.

The old woman placed a finger over Kar'lei's lips "Shh, just watch it gets better"

Kar'lei watched the older version of herself lay on the ground crying, a shadowy figure slowly limped to her. The figures bony hands traced the cheek of Kar'lei.

"Pretty Paladin, the light has left you again, hasn't it?" The voice was gravely, it sent chills down Kar'lei as she watched the vision. Her future self just nodded as the unknown figure draped a bear skin around her shivering body.

"You thought you found the true meaning of the light, when you found the Naaru, but what you failed to realize is that you were a pawn, only to be used when you had enough strength. Now that you are weak, it has left you, you can feel it, can't you?" He had asked her in a comforting tone. Kar'lei had tightened the bear skin around herself.

"There there my pretty, you are safe now" The mysterious figure pulled out a canteen and offered Kar'lei a drink. "We have been watching you Kar'lei, we know you power, we know what you can do, we know... how strong you are." the cloaked figure moved closer to Kar'lei running its fingers through her long red hair. He then reached into his cloak and pulled out a long blade and shoved it in the ground in front of the trembling Sindorei. Kar'lei's eyes widened as she ran her fingers over the blade.

"The power of revenge can be yours; all you have to do is claim this Rune Blade as yours. It will guide you to becoming even stronger than you are now. Do you hear it? It calls out to you, it wants you to use it, take you revenge on the light, this time for real. It will not lie to you, not like the magisters, the Naaru, your family. It wants you Kar'lei. You are not a Paladin, you were meant to be a Death Knight." The snow fell even harder as Kar'lei stood up and ran her hands down the Rune blade, she uttered one word. "Revenge"

The old woman finally spoke to the Kar'lei of the present "This can not happen; this is not what you were meant for, do you see?"

She nodded falling to the snow covered ground, her white dress camouflaged by the snow as she watched herself walk behind the shadowed figure, dragging the blade behind her in almost what seemed like defeat. "So I give up love, so this will not happen?" she said quietly to woman.

"You give up love, so that will have people to love in the future. Your power lies within you're heart, use that to keep strong. You can love but, not fall in love." She stated rather simply.

"What about Alestrio?"

"You know what you have to do if you want to save him, and yourself."

Kar'lei simply nodded.

In a flash, the visions were gone, she had awoken in Terrokar forest, where she had fell asleep. She wrote Alestrio a note, to meet her. She cried as she left it on his bedside.


End file.
